HIGH COURT SETS ASIDE KDMC COR­PO­RA­TOR’S DIS­QUAL­I­FI­CA­TION

KALYAN: The Bom­bay high court has given or­ders to set aside the dis­qual­i­fi­ca­tion of the Kalyan-Dom­bivli Mu­nic­i­pal Cor­po­ra­tion (KDMC) cor­po­ra­tor Mallesh Shetty.

KDMC com­mis­sioner E Ravendi­ran had dis­qual­i­fied Shetty on March 24, al­leg­ing his in­volve­ment in il­le­gal con­struc­tion. It asked the KDMC com­mis­sioner to set aside the dis­qual­i­fi­ca­tion and al­low the Shiv Sena cor­po­ra­tor to at­tend the up­com­ing gen­eral body meet­ing of the civic body.

Shetty, who rep­re­sents Lok­gram in Kalyan (East), was dis­qual­i­fied over il­le­gal con­struc­tion.

Af­ter he was dis­qual­i­fied, Shetty filed a writ pe­ti­tion in the high court. The court, on Wed­nes­day, set aside the or­der and al­lowed Shetty to at­tend civic body meet­ings, af­ter it ex­am­ined the va­lid­ity and le­gal­ity of civic chief or­der.

“We are yet to re­ceive the copy of the or­der. We will con­duct a study and take fur­ther course of ac­tion,” said Ravendi­ran.

The court’s or­der said Shetty be al­lowed to par­tic­i­pate in the gen­eral body meet­ing of the civic body on April 11.

“I had chal­lenged the civic com­mis­sioner’s or­der. Since I am an elected cor­po­ra­tor, a civic com­mis­sioner can­not dis­qual­ify me di­rectly. Only the gov­ern­ment can do so. The civic com­mis­sioner did not con­duct a proper in­quiry be­fore pass­ing the or­der,” said Shetty.

A KDMC of­fi­cial, who did not wish to be named, said: “Once it is proved that a cor­po­ra­tor is guilty, he is dis­qual­i­fied. There is no need for a for­mal no­tice to be served. The in­quiry found Shetty guilty of il­le­gal con­struc­tion.”

The civic body had dis­qual­i­fied Congress leader Sachin Pote from con­test­ing the KDMC polls in Novem­ber last year.

Out of the 120 elected cor­po­ra­tors, the civic body has listed 57 names for their in­volve­ment in il­le­gal con­struc­tion.

The civic body had sent a no­tice to Shetty be­fore the civic elec­tions but Shetty moved the court. He was elected from ward num­ber 42 and de­feated BJP can­di­date Naren­dra Gupte.